thriller with a nightmare scenario: a parent who loses her child in a bustling international airport. Young Jimmy Higgins is snatched from an airport security checkpoint while his guardian watches helplessly from the glass inspection box. But this is no ordinary abduction, as Jimmy is no ordinary child. His mother was Scarlett, a reality TV star who, dying of cancer and alienated from her unreliable family, entrusted the boy to the person she believed best able to give him a happy, stable life: her ghost writer, Stephanie Harker.

Trick of the Dark

In Trick of the Dark, forensic psychiatrist Charlotte Flint is in desperate need of a distraction after her testimony in a high-profile case comes under fire, threatening her career. Enter Dr. Corinna Newsam, an old professor of Charlotte’s who is convinced her son-in-law was murdered by her daughter’s new lover.

A Darker Domain

Karen Pirie is the newly appointed Deputy Inspector of the Cold Case Unit, and her first investigation takes her 25 years into the past to the national miners’ strike. At the time, a kidnapping gone wrong left a small boy missing, but new evidence suggests he might still be alive. As Pirie delves deeper, she realizes the boy’s disapperance may be linked to another cold case involving a missing miner.

Killing the Shadows

A killer is on the loose, blurring the line between fact and fiction. His prey - the writers of crime novels who have turned psychological profilers into the heroes of the nineties. But this killer is like no other. His bloodlust shatters all the conventional wisdom surrounding the motives and mechanics of how serial killers operate. And for one woman, the desperate hunt to uncover his identity becomes a matter of life and death.

Cross and Burn

Internationally best-selling crime writer Val McDermid' s work speaks for itself: her books have sold millions of copies worldwide, won numerous accolades, and attracted a devoted following of readers around the globe.

The Grave Tattoo

After summer rains uncover a tattooed body on a Lake District hillside, an old wives' tale takes on new plausibility. For centuries, Lakelanders have whispered that Fletcher Christian staged the massacre on Pitcairn so that he could return home. And once there, what if he told his story to William Wordsworth, who turned it into a narrative poem? Jane Gresham feels compelled to discover whether the manuscript ever existed or still does. But as she pursues each new lead, death follows hard on her heels.

The Skeleton Road

In the center of historic Edinburgh, builders are preparing to convert a disused Victorian Gothic building into luxury flats. They are understandably surprised to find skeletal remains hidden in a high pinnacle that hasn't been touched by maintenance for years. But who do the bones belong to, and how did they get there? Could the eccentric British pastime of free climbing the outside of buildings play a role? Enter cold case detective Karen Pirie, who gets to work trying to establish the corpse's identity.

A Place of Execution

A Greek tragedy in modern England, A Place of Execution is a taut psychological thriller that explores, exposes and explodes the border between reality and illusion in a multi-layered narrative that turns expectations on their head and reminds us that what we know is what we do not know.

Fever of the Bone

Crime Writers’ Association Cartier Diamond Dagger Award-winning author Val McDermid pens thrilling mysteries eagerly devoured by fans. In the sixth novel in her Tony Hill series—the inspiration for the hit British television show Wire in the Blood—psychologist Tony Hill and Detective Carol Jordan’s investigation of a teenage girl’s murder leads them to an Internet predator.

Beneath the Bleeding

Winner of the Gold Dagger Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Val McDermid pens mysteries heralded on both sides of the Atlantic. In Beneath the Bleeding, Dr. Tony Hill must make sense of the perplexing death of a soccer star—but the footballer’s demise is only a prelude to greater violence.

The Retribution

World-class crime writer Val McDermid has sold millions of copies of her books worldwide. In The Retribution, clinical psychologist Tony Hill and detective Carol Jordan face a terrifying reality: Serial killer Jacko Vance has escaped imprisonment - and appears hell-bent on revenge against those who put him behind bars.

Northanger Abbey

Cat Morland is ready to grow up. A homeschooled minister's daughter in the quaint, sheltered Piddle Valley in Dorset, she loses herself in novels and is sure there is a glamorous adventure awaiting her beyond the valley's narrow horizon. So imagine her delight when the Allens, neighbors and friends of her parents, invite her to attend the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh as their guest.

The Wire in the Blood: A Tony Hill & Carol Jordan Mystery, Book 2

Across the country, dozens of teenage girls have vanished. It's the job of criminal profilers Dr. Tony Hill and Carol Jordan to look for a pattern. They've spent years exploring the psyches of madmen. But sane men kill, too. And when they hide in plain sight, they can be difficult to find. He's handsome and talented, rich and famous - a notorious charmer with the power to seduce...and the will to destroy. No one can fathom what he's about to do next.

The Stranger You Know

He meets women. He gains their trust. He kills them. That's all London police detective Maeve Kerrigan knows about the man she is hunting. Three women have been strangled in their homes, and it appears to be the work of the same sadistic killer. With no sign of break-ins, every indication shows that the women let their attacker in willingly. The victims' neighbors and friends don't seem to remember anything unusual or suspicious, and Maeve is almost at a loss about how to move forward with the investigation.

The Mermaids Singing

The bodies of four men have been discovered in the town of Bradfield. Enlisted to investigate is criminal psychologist Tony Hill. Even for a seasoned professional, the series of mutilation sex murders is unlike anything he's encountered before. But profiling the psychopath is not beyond him. Hill's own past has made him the perfect man to comprehend the killer's motives. It's also made him the perfect victim. A game has begun for the hunter and the hunted.

The Kill

Their job is to investigate crime - not become the victims... A killer is terrorising London but this time the police are the targets. Urgently re-assigned to investigate a series of brutal attacks on fellow officers, Maeve Kerrigan and her boss Josh Derwent have little idea what motivates the killer's fury against the force. But they know it will only be a matter of time before the killer strikes again.

Silent Voices: A Vera Stanhope Mystery

When Inspector Vera Stanhope finds the body of a woman in the sauna room of her local gym, she wonders briefly if, for once in her life, she's uncovered a simple death from natural causes. But a closer inspection reveals bruises around the victim's throat, and Vera quickly realizes she has a murder on her hands.

White Nights: A Thriller: Shetland, Book 2

In this second audiobook of the Shetland Quartet to feature Inspector Jimmy Perez, the launch of an exhibition at The Herring House art gallery is disturbed by a stranger who bursts into tears, then claims not to remember who he is or where he comes from. The next day he's found dead, wearing a clown's mask.

Thin Air: A Shetland Mystery

A group of old university friends leave the bright lights of London and travel to Shetland to celebrate the marriage of one of their friends. But one of them, Eleanor, disappears - apparently into thin air. It's midsummer, a time of light nights and unexpected mists. And then Eleanor's body is discovered lying in a small loch close to the cliff edge.

Publisher's Summary

One of the finest crime authors we have, Val McDermid’s heart-stopping thrillers have won her international renown and a devoted following of fans worldwide. In The Vanishing Point, she kicks off a terrifying thriller with a nightmare scenario: a parent who loses her child in a bustling international airport. Young Jimmy Higgins is snatched from an airport security checkpoint while his guardian watches helplessly from the glass inspection box. But this is no ordinary abduction, as Jimmy is no ordinary child. His mother was Scarlett, a reality TV star who, dying of cancer and alienated from her unreliable family, entrusted the boy to the person she believed best able to give him a happy, stable life: her ghost writer, Stephanie Harker. Assisting the FBI in their attempt to recover the missing boy, Stephanie reaches into the past to uncover the motive for the abduction. Has Jimmy been taken by his own relatives? Is Stephanie’s obsessive ex-lover trying to teach her a lesson? Has one of Scarlett’s stalkers come back to haunt them all? A powerful, grippingly-plotted thriller that will keep listeners on the edge of their seats until the end, The Vanishing Point showcases McDermid at the height of her talent.

I was really into this book. The author did a great job of developing the characters and making me interested in them. The problem for me was that the ending didn't match my expectations from the rest of the book. There is a lot I would like to write about the ending, to explain why it was disappointing to me, but I don't want to spoil it for others. It's also possible the ending will be perfect for certain readers; it just didn't do it for me.

I would still recommend this book to others. McDermid's style of writing was captivating, and the story was fresh, unlike anything else I've read.

Great story. Interesting style. Nice twists. In the last 10 minutes this one goes in the toilet. My advice: In the last chapter, once the front door is opened and the characters identified, stop listening. Had I done so this book would get all 5's.

The synopsis sounded dull, particularly because I have no interest in reality TV, but this book was up to Val McDermid's standards. Very character-driven, but with plenty of plot twists. I expect a lot from Val McDermid, and this did not disappoint.

An unexpected and unusual storyline. Lots of twists and turns and you'd better payattention or you will be 'rewinding' to catch important details. I liked it very much and will be reading this author again.

Parts of this story were so smartly written and enjoyable like the main character development and intertwining relationships. However, other parts just seemed entirely ridiculous.

The first chapter put me off and made me think the author was lazy for not having done research, but then I became engrossed in the unveiling of the story. The way it was piecemealed didn't flow, but when the history took over and you could forget it was supposed to be a narrative/interview it was very engaging.

The end was right there, predictable, but not in a bad way. Then the culmination was ridiculous! Ridiculous!

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